This invention, relating to improvements in fluidized bed apparatus, has particular utility in the field of treating agricultural grain products such as soybeans, corn and other cereal grains to condition those grains for more efficient usage as food products for agricultural purposes, specifically, feeding of cattle and hogs. By subjecting such grains to a treatment process wherein they are heated to elevated temperatures of a predetermined magnitude for a specified length of time, the nutrient qualities are significantly improved resulting in increased efficiency with respect to digestion into the systems of the livestock which are fed such materials.
Exemplary of apparatus for effecting heat treatment of agricultural grain products that have been devised and heretofore utilized is a fluidized bed-type apparatus such as that which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,419,834 issued to John F. Scott on Dec. 13, 1983. That patent discloses an apparatus having a treatment chamber provided with a perforated bedplate at its bottom and across which the grain products are caused to traverse while concurrently effecting a flow of heated air through the bedplate.
Apparatus of this general type frequently is of a dimension having a bedplate of the order of two to three feet wide and ten to fifteen feet in length. The problem that is encountered in obtaining the most advantageous utilization of the apparatus is effecting a suitable flow of the heated gaseous fluid through the perforated bedplate and the particulate material which is traversing that bedplate. It is important that the flow of the gaseous treating fluid be effectively controlled and distributed throughout the entire extent of the bedplate taking into consideration the desirability of having the treating fluid at the highest temperature entering the material at selected areas along the longitudinal length of the treating chamber. Not all grains respond in exactly the same manner to such a treatment process and care must be exercised in effecting the passage of the heated air through the material to avoid burning the material or otherwise failing to effect a full and appropriate treatment of the material.